Automatic cut-off for rain-cisterns



(No Model.)

0. W. MYERS.

AUTOMATIG GUT-OFF FOR RAIN GISTERNS. No. 250,743 Patented Dec. 13 1881.

#C MM W 5% UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

CHRISTIAN W. MYERS, OF LINCOLN, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC CUT-OFF FOR RAIN-CIS TERNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 250,743, dated December 13, 1881.

Application filed May 16, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN W. MYERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lincoln, in the county of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Automatic Out-Offs for Rain-Oisterns, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic cut-offs for rain-cisterns in which a shifting pipe is made to feed either a wastepipe or the pipeleadinginto the cistern; and the objects of my improvements are, first, to carry off the first washings ofthe roof containing the dust and dirt and then turn the clean water into the cistern yand, second, to have the escaping waste water, by means of a system of weights and levers, turn the clean water into the cis-' tern. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompany drawing, in which the figure shows a side view of the whole mechanism, part of the side of the receiving-box being cut away to show the partition and chute.

The downspout D has a shifting pipe, S, attached-to its lower end by means of pivots p. This shifting pipe empties into a receiving-box, B B. A partition, a, having a chute, 0, projecting from one side, divides the box B B into two sections. The section into which the chute 0 projects receives the waste water, and has two escape-pipes in the bottom, one large, E, and the other small, 0. The other section of the box receives the water for the cistern, which it feeds through the pipe P, over the mouth of which is placed a sieve.

The shifting pipe S has an arm, f, fastened to it, and projecting from it on the side of the waste-water section. The outer end of this arm is jointed to a connecting-rod, R, at i, and the other end of the rod is secured to the arm of a lever, L, by a joint, j. The lever has its fulcrum at F. Along its upper edge are a number of notches, a, one at the end toward the pipe S, from which is suspended a light rod, r,which holds a bucket, b, under themouth of the escape-pipe 6. At the other end are such number ofnotches as may be desired, and from either one or the other of them issuspended a weight, to. When the weight is suspended from the end of the lever and the bucket is empty the mouth of the shifting pipe S is held over the section which is to receive the wastewater. There is a strip, 8, across the top of the box to prevent the pipe'being drawn toofar on this side. When water passes through the down and shifting pipes into the waste-water section of the receiving-box B B the greater portion passes out of the escape-pipe E, but enough is taken by thepipe e to so gradually fill the bucket b that by the time the roof is cleaned the bucket has weight enough to draw down its end of the lever, and so force the mouth of the shifting pipe S over the section of the box from which the cistern is fed.

The amount of water in the bucket necessary to cause the shifting of the pipe S can be regulated by moving the weight along the lover, or by the removal of the bucket all water can be kept out of the cistern.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The receiving-box B B, divided into two sections by the partition a, with a chute, c, with the escape-pipes E and e, and the feed-pipe P, in combination with a shifting pipe, S, substantially as specified.

2. The shifting spout S, in combination with the rod r, the lever L, having attached the bucket I) and weight w, the pipe e, and the box B B, as and for the purpose specified.

CHRISTIAN W. MYERS.

Witnesses D. K. WITMYER, SAMUEL NrssLY. 

